Instead, we need to find what feels comfortable and utilize our length to gain a muscle building advantage.

Check out the sample workout for tall guys below, as well as the program description to gain some insight behind the exercise selection.

If you have any further questions, feel free to leave us a comment!

The Workout Program for Tall Guys

Below is a 5 day sample muscle building workout for tall guys and girls. If you’re a guy and are 6’3-6’4 or taller, this workout is designed with you in mind. If you’re a girl and are 5’10-5’11 or taller, this workout is designed with you in mind as well.

You’ll preform the following workouts on the days listed. You can start on whatever day of the week you prefer, but the 3 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 1 day off schedule is going to be ideal for the muscle groups targeted.

Each workout is fairly short and you should be in and out of the gym within an hour (including a warm up and cool down).

Saturday – Back, Arms

Workout Program Tips for Tall Lifters

Being tall has its advantages. Strength training isn’t one of them, unfortunately. That’s not to say a tall person can’t get strong, it’s just going to be more challenging than it would be for some one of average height.

For example, someone who is 6’8 and 215-245lbs is going to have a much more difficult time performing a full range of motion bodyweight equivalent (or greater) back squat than someone who is 5’10 and 185-200lbs.

Not only that, but since they have longer extremities, it may be difficult to execute a perfect back squat going through a full range of motion. If you’re a tall person, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Setting up in a normal squat position and going through the movement, you’re much more likely to lean forward into an exercise that looks like a good morning/squat hybrid.

That’s why in the program listed above, the exercises performed take full advantage of equipment that helps you better keep an upright posture. Exercises such as the front squat, goblet squat, and landmine squat bring the weight in front of the body.

This minor switch of taking the load off your back and placing it in front of your body will do wonders for helping the tall person squat upright.

Other exercises such as the trap bar deadlift and dumbbell split squat, bring the weight to the side of your body, also helping tall lifters to better control their upper torso during their respected movement patterns.

You might’ve noticed there’s not a lot of machine based exercises within the program. That is due to the fact that machines are generally designed for those of average height in mind. The majority of machines are going to put the load of the weight in peculiar positions for the tall lifter and could result in faulty movement patterns and an increased risk of injury.

Lastly, this sample program for tall lifters utilizes a lot of neutral grips. Using a neutral grip will help keep some of the tension off your joints during the extended range of motion normally seen in taller lifters.

Specific Workout Program Recommendations

Now that you know what you’re up against as a tall guy in an average-height gym world, let’s get into some of the details of this program.

This program can be used for both adding lean muscle mass and fat loss. Body composition boils down to so much more than the time spent in the gym. So make sure you’re sleeping 7-9 hours each night and getting enough calories each day to accomplish your individual goal.

Find out your daily calorie needs with our bmr calculator. Once you have that number calculated, add/subtract 250-500 calories from that number depending on your goal.

Each exercise is meant to be performed with a 2/0/2 tempo. As a tall trainee, this might be your natural tempo. You could also slow it down further and really play off the fact you have longer limbs if you’d like. After each set, rest for 60-90 seconds.

Lastly, this program is intended to be performed for 10 weeks. After you’ve finished 10 weeks, take a week to deload. After you’ve deloaded, you can begin another round of this program.

If you have any other specific questions not answered within this article, please feel free to leave a comment in the comment section below!

No, not necessarily. This program is a bit more advanced than a 5x5 in terms of volume. That being said, you can certainly apply some of the tactics mentioned in the workout and article if you experience excessive forward leaning during your squats and deadlifts.

I've been following your workout plan for the past two weeks and so far I love it, as it incorporates a lot of exercises I hadn't tried previously.

I would like to ask you a few questions concerning some of the exercises :

1. Pull ups : I am not yet at a stage that I can perform a 12 reps set with full range of motion, more like 7-8. Should I just go for my max reps while maintaining 60-90 secs rest time between sets or increase my rest time? The same applies to the inverted cable row (which I perform with a bar due to lack of equipment).

2. I've watched several videos and illustrations of the front squat but I cannot seem to get it right and I have trouble balancing. Please advise,

1. Performing your max reps per sets is certainly one way to go about it. You could also perform the max reps, and then upon failure, finish the set by performing only the eccentric portion of the pull up. To do this, simply jump into place or step up using a bench, and slowly lower yourself through the body portion of the lift. You'll be surprised how quickly these will help you in being able to perform a full set of 12.

2. This one is a little more difficult to answer not seeing you perform it in person. The balance issue could be a number of things. Not knowing what it is, I'd suggest simply performing goblet squats instead. After performing the goblet squat for awhile, you'll notice you're much better able to keep an upright torso during other squat variations.

Daniel, the 2nd leg day has a goblet squat option and the day in general is really a good technique day that gets a good workout, but helps you be better on the heavy 1st leg day in my opinion. Goblet squats are a great facilitator.

Things are going good, on my 2nd or 3rd week. I can tell you this the landmines had my legs hurting(in a good way) like never before. I've added extra abs to the routine to try and help my core to support my back. I also rearranged some stuff so I could super set Like my lunges I do with calfs and some of the cable work I do supersets. Also I do my lateral raises with cable and include internal and external rotation in there to kinda support my shoulders a little more( very light weight) so basically 10 Lateral raises, 10 internal rotation and 10 external rotation for each arm then rest with my 20lbs max, if it becomes too easy I go up in reps

I love this routine so far and seeing some strength gains, but for me if I can make it a year without hurting something that will make this routine worth its weight in gold(LOL)

That's awesome to hear! Glad you were able to alter it in a way to better fit your needs!

Avoiding injury so you can stay consistent is the name of the game. I plan to publish some more workouts for tall guys in the very near future to give you guys some more options to work with.

I'll probably add in some 3-4 day splits so you don't have to consistently be at the gym 5 times a week. Especially with Summer right around the corner, y'all should be out in the sun showing off everything you've been working for. It's also a good way to maintain what you put on while giving your body a break from the higher frequency.

This program is aimed at those who are tall, but anyone can try it out if they like to.

It is difficult to target any one area for fat loss, it's just not how fat loss works. I would recommend eating at a calorie deficit consistently for a period of time. A calorie deficit is what is needed to promote fat loss.

Your abs will be hit indirectly through this program, but you're more than welcome to add in additional ab work if you feel it will help you accomplish your goals.

You can perform both on your rest days and/or after your workouts depending on your goals. Personally, I never hit abs directly and perform LISS for about 30 mins every morning, adding in 10 mins of HIIT post workout if I feel I need to.